


Having Bad Ideas

by ERASETHENOISES



Series: It’s A (Fucked Up) Wonderful World We Live In [1]
Category: Subarashiki Kono Sekai | The World Ends With You
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Also H doesn’t really appear here he’s just mentioned, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, Beat and Rhyme roleswap AU, Conductor!Rhyme AU, Other, Rated T for language and tobacco use, Reaper!Rhyme, Rhyme lives AU, This is set in 2018, btw Rhyme is the one smoking, my writing isn’t that good I just want people to see this, she’s an adult though, they’re a messy lil family, this’ll probably be a series of one shots about my weird little family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-04
Updated: 2021-02-04
Packaged: 2021-03-16 08:08:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29204115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ERASETHENOISES/pseuds/ERASETHENOISES
Summary: “Is there something I can help you with, sir?” She asked, putting the cigarette between her lips so she could rest her hands in the pockets of her suit for a few short moments. “You don’t usually call me up here.”
Relationships: Bito "Rhyme" Raimu & Hanekoma Sanae, Bito "Rhyme" Raimu & Kiryu "Joshua" Yoshiya, Hanekoma Sanae & Kiryu "Joshua" Yoshiya
Series: It’s A (Fucked Up) Wonderful World We Live In [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2144178
Kudos: 6





	Having Bad Ideas

Rhyme’s gaze flickered between the cigarette held between her middle and index fingers and the Composer’s ghost-like form before her.  _ Joshua’s _ ghost-like form. At this point she was more tired than anything — after all, she’d had to put up with his crap for ten years now. Whatever this man wanted, it obviously wasn’t good. Only this time when she observed his movements they were more… skittish. His hands were visibly shaking and whilst she couldn’t make out a definite facial expression he seemed worried.

“Is there something I can help you with, sir?” She asked, putting the cigarette between her lips so she could rest her hands in the pockets of her suit for a few short moments. It wasn’t often she got called to the Room Of Reckoning for a meeting — oftentimes she’d just be given a quick text telling her to meet him at WildKat in a certain time allotment. And just to make sure she wasn’t late, as soon as she’d seen the text a timer would appear on her hand. As if putting up with his bullshit everyday wasn’t bad enough half of the time. “You don’t usually call me up here.”

Joshua’s eyes were seemingly glued to the floor. She knew that look. The ‘I fucked up big time’ look. Honestly his look reminded him of that of a puppy who had just brought an entire forest’s worth of dirt into a freshly cleaned house. Rhyme removed the cigarette from her mouth and blew out a cloud of smoke with a huff. 

“You know smoking’s bad for you.” He commented. 

“I’ve been doing this for a year now. ‘Sides, I’m dead… what’s it gonna do?”

“Point made.”

They just stood there in silence for a few short moments. And silence in this place was always eerily different from normal silence. Because at least in normal silence you could hear quiet noises, like birds chirping or the wind blowing gently. But here it was truly silent. No music, no background sounds… nothing to worry about.

In the year and a half Rhyme had been Conductor of Shibuya she’d only visited the Room of Reckoning twice. The first time was when she was officially appointed, and the second when Joshua wanted to discuss some rule changes with her. And whenever they stopped talking for even a short period of time, the time gap felt longer.

“Take your time, Josh. You seem stressed.” Rhyme hummed, awkwardly trying to slice through the silence. She waved her cigarette through the air like some kind of weapon as she spoke. The Composer looked at her skeptically. Rhyme’s response to that look was a mere raise of her eyebrow. “I swear if you shot another kid—”

“Why on  _ Earth _ would I do that, Rhyme?” He retorted almost immediately, the wispy tendrils radiating off of his form spiking up like a porcupine. The woman chuckled, tossing her cigarette to the ground and stamping it out underneath her boot. 

“Josh, you’re the most unpredictable man I’ve ever met, and if I recall, the only reason we’re friends is due to circumstances you created.” She smiled at him, sincerely this time. “I can tell you’ve done something. This won’t get anywhere if you don’t tell me.”

There were a few short moments of silence before Joshua spoke again. “Okay, okay,  _ fine. _ I did something.”

“Did you kill someone?”

“Luckily not this time.” Joshua replied with a hoarse chuckle, looking down at Rhyme with a small smile. “You know, I forgot how short you were—”

“You’re changing the subject, Sir.” She smirked, jabbing her finger at him. She stopped just before she touched him, though, not wanting to startle him in anyway or seem hostile. “C’mon, just tell me. No use keeping it all bottled up.”

Joshua smiled at her again, warmly. He hesitantly reached out his hand and placed it on her shoulder. “Sorry… you’re just the only person I feel like I can tell this to.”

“Not even Sanae?” She cocked her head to the side. “I thought you had to tell him shit.”

“I think it’s better if he doesn’t find out that I went to the RG again.”

Rhyme blinked in disbelief. “ _ Joooosh _ , you trying to get yourself killed?”

“I just wanted to see how they were doing! It’s been a decade, okay?” Josh sighed. “Listen, it’s hard only having you and Sanae to talk to. And I’m lucky that you two can actually talk to each other unlike what happened with Megumi…” He looked down guiltily and hugged himself. Rhyme pulled him into a tight embrace. 

“It’s okay, Josh. You can tell me anything you need to. We’re friends, right?”

“Y-yeah.” He nodded, lifting her off the ground a little. “Thanks, Rhyme. You’re dismissed.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! This is just a lil self indulgent Drabble of one of my favourite AUs. I’ll be providing more backstory in later fics, probably.


End file.
